CLEARIN' SHIT UP.

(Sage and Rose Petal Smudge stick; Geologic, Queen street West)

What a crazy past week. 

The entire house came down with the stomach flu literally at the same damn time. When we weren't rotating turns hanging over the toilet bowel we spent the remainder of our weekend tucked into bed barely able to move. 

What started with Reiks (co-incidentally the same night of K's Come Over video shoot) quickly spread and went on to reek havoc among extended relatives. What a nightmare. Aside from the obvious household scrub down and sanitize of every covering we own, I also smudged our living space to clear out any negative or unwanted lingering energy. For the longest time I hated the smell of Sage until it was re-introduced by my baby sister (who's currently working on her jewellery line of healing crystals entitled Immaculate which I'm super stoked for. I'll keep ya'll posted). 

This little string wrapped bundle has a mixture of pine, rose petals and sage which I find a lot less musky than sage by itself. One day I was with her catching some rays over tea in Liberty Village when she pulled out this pretty little cluster from a brown paper bag. She then went on to enlighten me on the ways of smudging and it's objectives. I've pretty much been doing it daily ever since.

There are probably hundreds of different variations of herbal smudge sticks and just as many cultures that have their own ritual or ceremonial reasons for smudging. Although there are tons of non- believers, for me the proof is in the pudding. Even through my skepticism I felt a change in the air. It's very hard to describe. Almost like a tiny weight's been lifted and my attitude receives a little injection of 'can-do'. Sounds hella cheesy but whatevs.

My steps were as follows;

Carefully unbind a small area, so as not to catch the string on fire. Rotate the larger leafy end of the stick over a flame (lighter, torch, match, whatever you've got handy) so that its evenly distributed and lightly blow on the embers, creating smoke. Once you've got a little smoke going, blow on the embers (with positive thoughts) in each corner of the room.  I like to concentrate on my intention while doing this. Actively think about my thoughts becoming clearer. I find it therapeutic. 

That's it!

When I'm done, I hang it upside down on a tiny tac above my desk. 

Looks pretty. 

xo

-p